Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset in School

Exciting New Research

Carol Dweck Ph.D. and her team at Columbia University conducted a
study with 400 elementary students, in which the children were required
to take three tests. The second test was developed so that every
student failed. One group was praised for being “smart,” whereas the
other group of students were praised for “working hard.” Researchers
discovered the children who had been praised for their effort were open to trying to take the more challenging test, while the children praised for the intelligence
were hesitant. What’s really crazy is that, when both groups were given
the third assessment, the “smart” group did not perform as well as the
“hard-working” group. In fact, the 90% children praised for their effort
scored better on the third test than they had on the first test while
the other group scored 20% lower than they did on the first test.

Growth mindset is simply the belief:

That effort, and practice make a difference in the quality of an outcome.

That mistakes are part of the pathway to learning

That challenging oneself is part of growth

That the brain is changeable and can grow to become better at any given thing

That you can choose how to look at a situation

The Importance of Growth Mindset

Students with a growth mindset have been shown to:

Have higher level of motivation

Will take on harder tasks

Develop an internal locus of control?

Continue to try when faced with a challenge

Learn about the brain

Know their effort is worth it

How to Foster Growth Mindset in Children

What you can do or say

What it develops

Praise the effort: “You worked really hard on your math test.”

Students begin to believe their outcome is based on how hard they try.